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Sport
Justin Chadwick

Yorke makes bright start to coaching life

Dwight Yorke is seeking a perfect start to his coaching career with Macarthur in the Australia Cup. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

He's just two wins away from his first trophy as a head coach, but former Manchester United star Dwight Yorke doesn't want Macarthur's journey to title success to be about him.

Yorke was appointed Macarthur's coach in May and has already led the club to the semi-finals of the Australia Cup.

If the Bulls beat Victorian NPL outfit Oakleigh Cannons at Jack Edwards Reserve in Melbourne on Wednesday evening, they will secure a spot in the final against Sydney United.

Yorke won plenty of titles as a player, including the treble at Manchester United in 1999.

The Australia Cup crown might pale in comparison to that triumph, but it would represent the perfect start to Yorke's coaching career.

However, the 50-year-old, who brought a bang to the A-League when he played for Sydney FC in 2005/06, doesn't want the focus to be on him.

"This is not just about me," Yorke said.

"I've been very lucky to be given a chance to be the manager of this football club.

"I want to embrace it as the manager, but I'm very lucky I've got a great group of players and backroom staff. It's really made my transition easy.

"There's still a lot of hard work here to be done, we are focused on trying to establish this club, and the only way you're going to do that is by winning things and raising the standard and the mentality in and around the place."

Macarthur will start as heavy favourites on Wednesday night against their semi-professional opponents.

But Sydney United's 3-2 semi-final win over Brisbane Roar on Sunday and Oakleigh's 2-1 quarter-final win over Sydney FC earlier in the tournament proved how often upsets can occur in this competition.

"You see the beauty of the Cup, where you see the underdogs in the game really surprise the team who on paper is supposed to win the game," Yorke told reporters.

"The players have all watched it and observed what it s going on, and realise if we don't go there with the right mentality and the right approach ... you're never going to win.

"Those games we saw with Oakleigh and Sydney and Brisbane Roar and Sydney United, it's a stark reminder of the difficulties (we could have) if we don't prepare correctly for it."

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